I agree. We need to begin expanding into space soon. As we are making the transition from a type 0 to type 1 civilization as @slydessertfox posted I believe.
A moon base and space exploration may be the only things on which Gingrich knows what hes talking about. Well, that and the environment, I believe he has a position similar to Al Gore's on the environment.
He actually said that doing the ad with Pelosi on the environment was one of the dumbest things he did in his life, so I doubt he actually cares much for the environment.
Robots are the space explorers of the future. Humans are simply engineers to operate equipment such as the ISS and various spacecraft.
On the contrary, there is a whole lot to gain from it. I'm not even going to mention all the massive technological breakthroughs that have been and will be made, and there are a lot. The real benefits of space exploration may not be very tangible, immediate or visible, but they are enormous. What is very visible and immediate is the expenditure of time, effort and money going into space exploration, and this apparent disparity makes a lot of people mystified with the idea of spending more. People seem to think that space exploration is massively expensive. And it is - you're not going to be able to really explore space with the change you pick up on the street. But let's put it in relative terms. For every dollar the US spends on space exploration, two is spent on spent on baggage checks and body scanners at airports. A whopping 228 dollars is spent on defense. Those super expensive rockets and satellites and space stations and research? The amount of money Americans win in the lottery in a year is over 4 times as much. Spending on space exploration accounts for 0.0006% of the budget. It's a drop in an ocean. Ceasing space exploration isn't going to help the economy in any meaningful way. The opposite absolutely will, at minimal relative cost. Science and technology are the drivers of economic growth. Think about it - every world power since medieval times got there primarily by embracing that fact. It's more important now than it ever has been. Economies grow through innovation, and innovation comes from learned and driven people. How do we get these people? Easy, get more and better teachers, right? If only it were that simple. People learn through aspiration. Give them a goal, a dream, a vision to be achieved. Space exploration fosters a cultural mindset that makes people advance. Why? Because they're inspired. They see their dreams becoming reality. "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea..." - Antoine de Saint Exupery EDIT: Found this video. Watch it.
I say there is nothing to gain from a moon base. You waffle on about space exploration. Two different concepts.
Building a moon base would be exploration. Even if it weren't, the same benefits would apply. Either way, you're wrong.
There is absolutely nothing on the moon at all, yet we have mapped every bit of it's surface. What can you gain from having a fucking colony there? It would be the most pointless venture in the history of the universe.
Actually the moon would be a pretty good staging area for future space exploration. It's a long term investment sure, but not a pointless one.
All we need is an elaborate hoax to make the republicans truly believe this is oil on the moon. (even though that would be physically impossible)
Dont forget to tell the rest of the world of the numerous amounts of oil there is on the moon people!!!
